Healthcare services for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin will stay in the county - 17 June 2014

Joint statement from Dr Caron Morton, Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, and David Evans, Telford & Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group

We have seen a news release from a campaign group saying people in Shropshire and mid Wales will have to go to Stoke-on-Trent for specialist emergency treatment.

We are concerned that this will have worried many people and would like to set the record straight. There are no plans to move any services to Staffordshire.

Future Fit is about making big changes to hospital and community health services in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin to provide high quality, safe care for the next 20 years. It’s led by local doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to design the best possible services for our communities.

Our local doctors believe that one single emergency centre based at Shrewsbury, Telford or a new site in the area would be the safest way to treat the most seriously ill patients. This centre would mainly deal with life-threatening illnesses and injuries – including treatment for strokes and heart attacks.

There will also be a number of urgent care centres across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, bringing services closer to local communities. They will all be able to treat people when they need help urgently for situations such as cuts and fractures.

In addition, there will be a diagnosis and treatment centre for planned surgery, led by specialists.

We believe that Future Fit gives us an opportunity to make sure all our hospital and community health services are fit for the next generation.

We are always happy to talk to local communities about our plans. We will be holding a series of events shortly and hope that many people will come along. More information will be posted on http://www.nhsfuturefit.co.uk/get-involved